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Hindi Instruction Makes The World Peaceful

Neal Phenes wrote in a letter to the editor (The Packet, June 27) that the West-Windsor Plainsboro Board of Education should not add Hindi to the curriculum because it would raise costs. He said the need for such an addition "must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt" and that "core subjects already being taught must be the focus of our schools."

My family, friends and neighbors in Plainsboro disagree. My family includes members fluent in English, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Fujienese and Hindi. A primary reason for living in Plainsboro is the commitment by both the schools and the library to promote cultural and linguistic competency in Plainsboro's children, adolescents and adults through various programs and educational opportunities, including the world languages curriculum. A better method of determining curriculum is what benefits the educational future of our children and adolescents. The educational research is clear that languages are best learned at young ages. There is no evidence that WW-P will need to take away any course offerings to add Hindi and current staff may be able to teach courses without additional funding.

With the United States plunged into yet another costly and ill-conceived set of wars abroad, maybe the wisest use of our local, state and national tax dollars is to increase teaching multiple world languages for the next generation, an important route to understand and appreciate world cultures. If the U.S. focused more on funding learning about and appreciating cultural and linguistic difference rather than funding war-making, we as a nation would be more cost-effective in both tax dollars saved and body bags unused.

Stuart Chen-Hayes

Here is my response:

To the editor:

I want to thank Mr. Chen-Davis for his response to my criticism of the proposal to add Hindi to the WW-P curriculum.

I now realize that adding this language to the curriculum will add no costs even though there will have to be new instructors, a classroom and time for this new subject. And even if it did add some costs, since so many of my fellow citizens want this addition to the languages curriculum, how can I possibly object? How could I even consider the cost of anything to be an issue when it involves education or the desires of Mr. Chen-Davis’ friends, family and neighbors?

I just thought I was offering a concept where new costs had to be justified during this economic crisis faced by many residents of Plainsboro. But Mr. Chen-Davis’ last point is most persuasive. He expresses that there is a link of some sort between adding this course to our schools and world peace. I had forgotten the curative powers of Hindi upon Islamic Fascism. If we could only pipe Hindi into Osama Bin Laden’s cave, we may see the kind of magical harmony it has created between the Muslim’s of Pakistan and the Hindus of India.

Thank you.

Neal Phenes

The Princeton Packet refused to print my response. Here are the e-mails:

Packet policy limits letter writers to one letter published per 30 days. We occasionally make an exception to this policy, allowing a writer to offer a substantive rebuttal to a response occasioned by his or her initial letter. In this case, however, the response appears to be more sarcastic than substantive -- and does not, in our judgment, add to the constructive dialogue on this issue.

RS

My response:

Thanks Rick:

I understand and respect your policy. I just thought that equating my cost containment argument with some sort of support for the war in Iraq deserved a like response. I guess Chen-Davis’ point was serious, logical and relevant.

1 Comments:

They just "get" it, don't they?... if only we all talked a little more, understood each other a little better... we could prevent all "ill-conceived set(s) of wars".

Personally, I think this "set' of wars are very well-conceived... as is evidenced by history. Substituting democracies for dictatorships diminishes the probablity of future conflicts and greatly reduces the chances of catastrophic social events, such as famine.

Democracies and capitalistic societies are responsible for lasting world peace, not multiple-language ability. Name the last democracy to use military force and over run another country.

Until Utopia arrives, our world will be improved by the judicious use of force to create self-determination. That seems the best concept on how to achieve world peace. Sorry, Mr. Chen-Hayes, but I'm not aware of any earthly conflict prevented because a larger percentage of the population spoke an aggressor's language.

About Me

(ettubloge@yahoo.com) Neal is a former RI commercial fisherman (OK just a few trips) who went on to law school in NYC (passed the bar but should have stayed in RI as a fisherman), met a Brooklyn girl and married her (fuhgedaboudit) and is now a family man in NJ (how'd that happen?) who reacqainted himself with the wonders of individual liberty late in life. He devotes his free time to studying politics and economics, watching too much baseball, reading Philip Roth on the side and examining the hypocrisy of the ruling elites.